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Overview of Competencies

28 September 2015 |

Firms will want to gain an insight into the skills and capabilities you have developed through your studies and extra curricular activities. Remind yourself of your personal experiences, positions of responsibility and extracurricular involvement. Focus on the skills and abilities you developed.

It is good to use a range of different examples in your applications and interviews, both academic and non-academic. This can help to demonstrate that you are a well-rounded individual. Try to demonstrate how your interests, experiences, competencies and strengths are relevant to the role for which you are applying and why they make you an ideal candidate. For instance, if you have worked in a supermarket, this could demonstrate work ethic, commitment and experience dealing with clients (clients are essentially customers), whilst evidencing that you have developed soft skills such as problem solving (if things have gone wrong) and negotiating.

Helpful preparation can include listing out all the interesting and/or relevant experiences that you have accumulated. Include positions of responsibility you have held, societies and sports teams you have been involved with, interesting group projects you have undertaken at university, part-time jobs and work experience in industries relevant to the organisation to which you are applying. Consider the particular skills and strengths that could be drawn out of each. You should then be ready for competency-based questions.